Jaywalkers

I started my jaywalkers last night at knit night. Screwed up because I was too busy watching Survivor and talking to my girls. Frogged them this morning and started over. I can't wait to get them finished. I'm using the yarn that my Rav buddy Onesweettart gave me not too long ago. It's ubersoft, but I wound the yarn and lost the yarn band. Now I have no idea what brand or colorway I'm using.

I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it here so you can see my progress.

Frustrated by Health Care

My daughter woke up this morning with an eye problem. It seemed like an eye infection and a painful one at that. I made her go to the Immediate Care and get something for it. She dropped off her prescriptions at Wal-mart and came home to wait because they said it was going to be a 2 hour wait for them to be filled. She waited the 2 hours and went back to pick up the eye drops and pain reliever. She was told the eye drops would cost $80 with our insurance. She went back to the dr. and asked if there was something else she could be given that wasn't as expensive. He gave her the prescription and since Wal-Mart Pharmacy was closed for lunch she went to Walgreens. They told her that our insurance expired 9/1/08!!!! I told her there is no way the insurance is expired. The monthly premiums are deducted from my paycheck and open enrollment for 2009 doesn't start until 10/31/08. I told her to get the prescription back and go back to WalMart. WalMart tells her the same thing, and that the medicine will be $17.00 without insurance. So at least it was cheap enough that she could get the drops and start healing her eye.

I called the insurance company and listen to the recorded voice of the cheerful woman and answered my way through to customer service. Another voice comes on the line (recorded) and tells me that there is a problem with their facility and it is closed. What the hell does that mean? I got online and typed in the url and a white page with black letters pops up and says the facility is closed. Did my insurance company fold and I don't even know it?

In January my employer decided to help keep our insurance premiums down they were switching from UnitedHealthCare to Cigna. Cigna has caused nothing but problems this year. Most of the doctors in my town won't even accept Cigna because "they don't pay their bills". Isn't that comforting.

The Immediate Care that she went to this morning already has the insurance information in the computer and probably doesn't check each time you visit the dr. So if it's really cancelled, I'm sure I'll be getting a big bill in the mail next month.

Can I just scream? ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

No one trumps Mom

Sometimes I have to step back and remember I'm not his mom. He lives with me and I'm his mom's mom, but I'm not his mom. I can give input, but I can't make the big decisions.

I found that out when he was barely a bump in the tummy. The new parents to be may ask for input regarding naming baby, what color should the nursery be, should we buy a new 4 and 1 crib or use the one that we found at a garage sale? Breast milk or formula? Those are questions that friends and family often throw their two cents worth in for. It's funny now as I'm typing this, that the examples that I gave in that sentence were real life questions she asked and she didn't take my advice on any of them.

• What should we name the baby? I thought Jack was a good name, it is a good strong name and both sides of his family had someone named Jack who meant alot to them. She chose Hayden (I love Hayden, but it's very trendy and wasn't my choice).
  
• What color should the nursery be? I was remodeling the house at the time just to get ready for baby and turned the formal living/dining into a small suite for them. I thought the room should have been painted a neutral color and then added the accent pieces for the theme of the nursey. Nope, that didn't happen either, his room is painted with 2 walls white and the 3rd wall (main wall) is dark chocolate brown and white stripes with pistachio green curtains and bedding. It's cute, just not what I would have chosen. Plus when they decide to paint over that brown wall it's going to be a bitch to cover!
  
• Should we buy the new 4 and 1 crib? You know the crib that converts to a toddler bed, then a twin bed and then a full size bed. This type of bed grows with your child. I thought that would be a nice thing to have and would last forever. She ended up with a regular crib that was purchased at an auction. It's a very nice crib, and a very expensive well made brand. But when he's two and ready for a toddler bed, the crib goes in the attic or garage and the toddler/twin bed needs to be purchased.
  
• For the last question, I breast fed both of my kids until they were 6 months old, I probably would have nursed them longer, but they both were more interested in the sippy cup by that age and the less they nursed the less milk I produced. So when she said she wasn't sure if she was going to breast feed or bottle feed, I was confused. Why wouldn't you want to? was my thought. I didn't give her the line about "you will have a better bond with your child if you nurse" because I don't believe that, I have several friends that couldn't be closer to their mothers and they were bottle babies. By the time Hayden was born she had decided to give it a try and it lasted about 1 week. She couldn't get him to latch on, so she was trying to pump and just wasn't able to get enough milk to keep him feed. Formula turned out to be his friend.

Yesterday I found out the no one trumps Mom, not even Dad. Hayden's aunt H. (who he has only seen a handful of times in his life) decided she was going to keep him on Friday night. I think there was some sort of motive behind all of this, just not sure what it was. There was no asking, "Do you mind if Hayden spends the night on Friday?" It was a phone call to his Dad stating "I'm going to take Hayden Friday night because I want to take him to the family thing on Saturday" Dad said Okay, (he's thinking ~yeah a peaceful nights sleep~) Mom said Hell no!! because he's too little to be spending the night with people he barely knows. Mom was afraid he would wake up in the middle of the night and be scared and feel abandoned and she didn't want her baby upset. My first thought was if Aunt H. wants to show off a baby, she should have one for herself. That turned into a huge fight between Mom and Dad and Mom and Aunt. I told her to compromise, take Hayden over on Saturday mid-morning and let him play with his Aunt and Cousin A. for a few hours. So that compromise was offered and turned down flat! Aunt H. wanted all or nothing, so she got nothing! Hayden slept peacfully and soundly in his own bed last night. I later found out that Aunt H. is wanting to have another child, but her new husband isn't sure he wants a baby. She wanted to practice with Hayden.

My daughter may be a young mother, but she's an awesome mother. Very loving, caring and nurturing to her little boy. She's involved in his day, playing with him on the floor, teaching him new things all the time. He's learning to talk, walk and is even learning sign language. He's a very happy boy and very loved. Just remember, a baby needs people in his life, it's great to have grand parents, aunts, uncles, and extended family and friends. But when it's time for decisions to be, whether they are the big decision or just little decisions. No one trumps Mom!

Test Socks are Finished

I finally finished the socks. These are the test socks for Ravelry member, Yarnlady40324, click this link for more information about Yarnlady. http://www.ravelry.com/people/yarnlady40324

This was a really easy sock pattern and would be great for beginning sock knitters.

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Update of BP and some other stuff

I went back to the dr yesterday morning about the same time as the day before and my blood pressure was lower, but still not where it needs to be. Tuesday it was 174 over 107 and Wednesday it was 146 over 101. The bottom number (he explained) is how long your heart takes to pump again.

I really don't want to have to start taking meds because I'm very bad about taking a pill EVERYDAY. So, I'm going to have to start getting more active, eating better. I never add salt to anything I cook, but I know that there is alot of sodium in some of the things I eat. So I'll have to start watching that. I'm going to try to get back down to the dr office sometime today to check it again.

Okay ~ on a happier note! Tonight is our knitting night. I so enjoy getting together with the girls and just knitting, talking, watching TV and eating. Tonight is my night to provide the dinner and I was going to fix salisbury steaks and scalloped potatoes, but I switched it up with all this blood pressure crap going on and now I'm taking a salad bar to her house. How's this sound, mixed greens, lots of different veggies, boiled egg, some shaved ham, grilled chicken, shredded cheese, maybe some kidney or garbonzo beans, mandarin oranges, or dried cherries. I just thought it would be fun for us to build our own salads and it would be really healthy.

I'm almost finished with the sock I've been working on for my Ravelry friend Yarnlady40324. I've finished the leg and have started on the heel flap. I'll be working on my sock tonight at knit night. Rita is still working on her beaded shawl and Michelle is about finished with her 3rd scarf. We will eat our salads, knit, watch Survivor and Grey's Anatomy. We have alot of fun and I just wish all my new friends on Ravelry could come play with us.

I've got my traveling scarf ready to mail for Group 39. This is actually a beginner's group and they needed someone with a little experience in moderating to run the group, so of course I volunteered. I also looked at this as a way to help beginner's hone their skills. So we are off and running. Here's a picture of my starter section.

I used size 7 needles, Cascade 220 in a turquoise colorway with the windmill stitch pattern. It's going to leave Oklahoma and head to the desert of Arizona hopefully today! I wish the picture wasn't so blurry. I think it will be really pretty after it has been blocked.

I'm also moderating a Traveling Scarves Group by our kids. The knitting will be done by our kids. Since my kids are grown and have no interest whatsoever about knitting. I recruited Rita's kid, Kallie. She's 12 years old and can't wait to get started on her scarf. She has never knit before, all the kids are beginner knitters so it should be very interesting on how the finished product turns out. The kids will be starting on their start section this week.

I guess that's all I've got for now.

I just got back from the doctor!

I work down the sidewalk from the clinic that we use for our Worker's Compensation patients and decided that this headache from hell just isn't going to go away. So at 8am on the dot, I walked down to see if I could get a Kenalog (?) shot. It's an allergy shot, that saved my life last year. I'm very allergic to ragweed and we are in prime season for the pretty little yellow flowers. I usually start out with sneezing, itchy eyes and throat, then in the blink of an eye it has moved to my chest and I end up with bronchitis and feel totally miserable.

So I'm in the dr's office with the nurse and she's checking my vitals and the blood pressure machine keeps starting over. She says, "ooo, that usually means it's high". Sure enough, drum roll please....my pressure was 174 over 107. My eyes probably bugged out of my head like that woman who can pop out her eyes. She said, it might just be because you have a headache and I'm thinking, the headache might be because I'm about to have a stroke. Usually my blood pressure is about 124 over 75, the highest it's ever been is 135 over 89 and that was when I was hurt. The dr wants me to check my blood pressure everyday this week and see if it goes back down. If not, I'll have to go back and see what the next step is, I think I know. It's probably to lose 30 lbs. Hopefully, I won't have to start taking blood pressure medicine.

November can't get here soon enough

I'm so tired of all the election stuff. Let's just get the vote over with, and get the show on the road. Whichever show it may be! This show will have new characters, but will the plot change or will we have the same old story? I would really like to take a peek at the new story, but....

I must admit this to myself, I am a complacent person. I'm the one who stays in a job forever because I'm afraid of change. Most of the time it's just easier to stick with the old and drudge along. I believe that all the changes are the right changes so why am I going back and forth and back and forth on this? I really really know what I should do. Go for the change! But why is it sooo hard for me?

Survey

I found this survey on http://www.knitmom.blogspot.com/ it looks like I've done or am currently working on most everything on the list. There are a couple things I want to try, but some that I have no interest in, like machine knitting and hair accessories.

The rules:
Bold the things you've done.
Green the things you are currently doing.
Red out the things you've abandoned or will never attempt.
Italicize the things you want to try.

AfghanAmerican/English Knitting (vs. Continental knitting)
Baby Items
Bobbles
Buttonholes
Cable stitch patterns (including Aran)
Cardigan
Charity knitting
Continental knittingCuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Drop stitch patterns
Dyeing with plant dyes
Dyeing yarn
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Freeform knitting
Fullling/felting
Gloves
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Hair accessories
Hat
Holiday related knitting
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies.....)
I-cord
Intarsia
Jewelry
Kitchener
Bind Off
Knitting a gift
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting socks
Knitting to make money
Lace patterns
Longtail Cast
OnMachine knitting
Mittens: Cuff upMittens: Top down
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Olympic knitting
Participating in a Knit-a-long
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks: toe upSocks: top down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching
Sweater
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy or doll knitting
Tubular Cast On
Twisted stitch patterns
Two ended knitting
Writing a pattern
Well there you have it. If you decide to do the meme let me know I'd love to read your list!

Now Hiring

Anybody out there looking for work in Claremore, OK? I've got tons of jobs that I can't fill find people who want to work. I keep hearing how bad the economy is and that we are in a recession, but here in Oklahoma we just aren't seeing it yet. In fact I may have an opening in my office soon. Let me know if you're interested.

I'm so glad it's Friday, this has been a very very long week. Sheri's last day was Wednesday, I hope that she enjoys her new job.

I'm still working on the socks, the Woodland Shawl and now I've started a new project. I got this pattern sometime last month for a stocking cap. Just plain, but really cute. You have your choice of a skull cap, a short, medium, or long cap with tassle.

My plans for tomorrow are to finish the sock and work on the woodland shawl.

The mini's are sneaking up on me also. I've still got about 7 minis to make and mail out by November 1st. I think I can do that next weekend.